Closed Today

Get tickets

Advance tickets are recommended and are available for visits through December. Book now


From the Ground Up explores relationships between people and their environments, as well as interactions between the natural and the man-made. ICA teen artists express ideas about the ways in which they experience nature, the most unusual places they’ve found nature, and where they’ve seen an absence of nature.

This exhibition was organized by the ICA’s Teen Exhibitions Program, a group of creative teens who work together to plan, organize, and install exhibitions in the ICA Teen Gallery. This gallery is a space for us to imagine new ways of presenting work, and to grow in our own creative practice by collaborating with one another and ICA staff.

The artists included in the gallery are members of other ICA Teen Programs, including AMP: Music Production, Fast Forward, Photo Collective, Special Focus, and Teen Arts Council. Special thanks to all the collaborators who made this happen, including many staff at the ICA. See the bottom of this page for a full list.

From the Ground Up: Nature and the Man-Made will be on view in the Teen Gallery at the ICA’s Seaport Studio through May 30, 2024.

Thank you to our collaborators

Adonis T., ICA Teen Artist
Amari B., ICA Teen Artist
Ana R., ICA Teen Artist
Andrew Y., ICA Teen Artist
Angela T., Principal Designer
Angelica M., Teen Exhibitions Program Member
Anja R., ICA Teen Artist
Anthony S., ICA Teen Artist
Ayden A., Teen Exhibitions Program Member
Betsy G., Director of Teen Programs
Coco Rosenberg, Teen Exhibitions Program Teaching Artist
Edwin A., Facilities Assistant
Emmett S., Teen Exhibitions Program Member
Fiona L., Teen Exhibitions Program Member
Isabel L., ICA Teen Artist
Joseph B., Teen Exhibitions Program Member
Juliana G., ICA Teen Artist
Kai Vlahos, Art Installer
Kris W., Director of Creative Content and Digital Engagement
Laura C., Teen Exhibitions Program Member
Layla P., Teen Exhibitions Program Member
Leandra B., Teen Exhibitions Program Member
Lee R., Teen Exhibitions Program Member
Leena A., Teen Exhibitions Program Member
Liv Biel, Exhibitions Coordinator
Luna L., Teen Exhibitions Program Member
Mariana A., ICA Teen Artist
Miguel E., ICA Teen Artist
Nate C., Teen Creative Leadership Alumni Assistant
Nathan A., Teen Exhibitions Program Member
Nohemi R., Teen Programs Manager
Olivia N., ICA Teen Artist
Precious O., ICA Teen Artist
Rune M., ICA Teen Artist
Ruth E., Barbara Lee Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs
Sachelle S., ICA Teen Artist
Sam R., Teen Exhibitions Program Member
Samantha P., Teen Exhibitions Program Member
Shiloh H., ICA Teen Artist
Sienna A., ICA Teen Artist
Sol Y., ICA Teen Artist
Sydney L., Teen Exhibitions Program Member
Tim O., Chief Preparator

—Please note the Teen Gallery will be closed for maintenance February 6–27 and maintenance and April 17–21 for school vacation week.—  

The Stories that Make Us is an exhibition of artwork by high school students that explores personal stories about migration, belonging, and overcoming adversity. This exhibit embodies how different stories intersect and finds the commonalities we all have with one another.  We invite you to explore the works that make up The Stories that Make Us and see what you relate to. 

I Learn America (ILA) is a youth-led education program with a mission to use the power of storytelling to foster empathy, urgency, and action around issues affecting migrant youth, as they forge their own path in a new land. In 2021, youth facilitators from ILA worked with artists from the Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing to create panels that focused on their own journeys. In the fall of 2022, ILA facilitators worked with student leaders at Everett High School, Boston International Newcomers Academy, and ENLACE Academy to lead workshops around the panels—taking inspiration from the panels, students used black vinyl and permanent marker on mirrors and windows to create pieces that reflected their own personal experiences and points of connection.

This exhibition was organized by the ICA’s Teen Exhibitions Program, a group of creative teens who work together to plan, organize, and install artwork in the ICA Teen Gallery, while learning about the process of making exhibitions from dedicated museum professionals. Teen arts education is central to the ICA, and the Teen Exhibitions Programs is just one of many programs offered. Special thanks to all the collaborators who made this happen, including I Learn America, Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Everett High School, Boston International Newcomers Academy, and ENLACE Academy at Lawrence High School. 

The Stories that Make Us is on view in the Teen Gallery in the ICA Seaport Studio at 100 Pier 4 Blvd. Seaport Studio is open to the public Tuesday through Thursday, 2–5 PM.

 

 

 

Credits

Lead support for Teen Programs provided by Wagner Foundation. 

support-wagner@2x.png

Teen Programs are made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Award Number MA-252104-OMS-22. 

Institute of Museum and Library Services logo

Additional support is provided by the Rowland Foundation, Inc.; Vertex; The Willow Tree Fund; the Cabot Family Charitable Trust; Mathieu O. Gaulin; the William E. Schrafft and Bertha E. Schrafft Charitable Trust; the Nathaniel Saltonstall Arts Fund; the Mass Cultural Council; the Rosalie Thorne McKenna Foundation; the Deborah Munroe Noonan Memorial Fund, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee; MFS Investment Management; BPS Arts Expansion Fund at EdVestors; the Bessie Pappas Charitable Foundation, Inc.; and the Charlotte Foundation. 

Vertex logo

Mass Cultural Council logo

MFS logo

Converse is committed to supporting movements for positive social change and amplifying youth voices as they build the future they believe in.  

Converse logo